Extraction conditions can greatly influence antioxidant capacity assays in plant food matrices

The estimated antioxidant capacity of different matrices can vary considerably between research reports. Besides intrinsic factors (not studied here), our work showed that may have various causes. Firstly, different methods are used to measure antioxidant capacity. Secondly, the results obtained for a single matrix by one method (such as ORAC) can vary with the extraction conditions. Parameters having a great impact on the amount and composition of antioxidants in extracts, and thus on the measured antioxidant capacity, notably include the extraction solvent composition, temperature, extraction time (duration), solvent-to-solid ratio, and storage conditions. Standardization of the extraction procedure is thus necessary for accurate and reproducible determination of the antioxidant capacity and phenolics in different food matrices by different laboratories. In this study we optimised such a procedure for four fresh plant matrices (orange, apple, leek, and broccoli). The optimised procedure requires extraction in a mixture of acetone/water/acetic acid (70/28/2, v/v/v) for 1 h at 4°C, with a solvent-to-solid ratio of 20 mL per 1 g. Fresh material should be used, but if this is not possible, one may lyophilise the plant matrices or store the extracts for a few days at -20°C before analysis.